APL NEW YORK (8,500 teu) delivered

APL, currently the world’s seventh largest shipping line, has taken delivery of the 8,500 teu vessel APL NEW YORK. The ship was built by DSME of South Korea as the second ship in a series of twelve identical sisters. It follows the APL VANCOUVER, delivered in March.

The 8,500 teu APL NEW YORK

Originally ordered in July 2010 as part of a ten-ship series of 17-row-wide standard 8,500 teu ships, APL later opted to change the types design. In June 2011, the Singaporean carrier and the Korean shipyard agreed to build the ships as compact 18-row-wide units with a bulkier hull and more compact exterior dimensions. Simultaneously, APL added orders for two more sister ships to bring the series to twelve units instead of ten.

At the time of the design change, its appeared that APL wanted to optimize the ships for USEC ports, which are not yet all equipped to handle VLCS and ULCS. Especially with their low air draft and fully-enclosed bridge, the ships would fit well into these ports. The series ships are 328.20m long and 45.20m wide. The stated container capacity of 8,500 teu is an estimate, since APL did not yet disclose the actual teu intake.

The new APL NEW YORK follows her earlier sister vessel into the China-Middle East service jointly offered by APL (under the name ‘WAX’) and MOL (under the name ‘CMI’), where the ships replace 6,350 teu units. However, this deployment is believed to be temporary only and the ships will likely join an Asia-US service once the east-west peak season begins.